Bath & Body Works regrets misunderstanding at Chesterfield Mall

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ST. LOUIS -- The story about the class of special needs students told not to enter the Bath & Body Works at a Chesterfield Mall has been spreading on social media since Nov. 6 when an upset teacher posted about the experience on Facebook. Her post has been shared more than 100,000 times and has likely been seen by millions of Facebook users.

"I was very disappointed today while on a field trip with my Special Education students. They were given an assignment to find stores on their own and locate a product and write down information about the product," Alice Maloney wrote on Facebook. "This seems like an easy task, however this is an important skill these students are still learning. As we got ready to walk into Bath & Body Works we were met by a worker who told us we were not welcome to come in the front door."

Since Maloney posted her story on Facebook, some CBS 6 viewers have asked us to investigate since the incident happened at Chesterfield Mall. It turns out however, the mall is not in Chesterfield County, Virginia, rather it is in Chesterfield, Missouri.

It was last Thursday when the students were told they could not enter the store, according to a report on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A store worker said the students could not come in because they were there as part of a school project and not shoppers.

After the store went viral, Maloney received an apology from the regional store manager.

"Providing our customers with an exceptional shopping experience is of utmost importance at Bath and Body Works," L Brands, parent company of Bath and Body Works, said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a written statement. "We very much regret this misunderstanding and have personally spoken with the teacher to offer our most sincere apology and welcome her and her students in our stores at any time."

The Post-Dispatch reported Bath & Body Works employees feared the students would be counted as shoppers who did not buy anything from the store, thus throwing off their sales percentage marks.